Monday, July 18, 2011

Briar’s Journal (July 19 to August 1, 2011)

Dream Entry*
December 3, 2005

Morzant is taking me on a walking tour of his home planet. I’m panting, hot from the thousands of little suns burning in the pink sky. Wind blows sand in my eyes and up my nose and uncovers the bones of strange creatures. Leafless silver trees grow here and there.


“Is all of Zeenton desert?” I ask.


“None of Zeenton is desert,” he says. “It’s all dessert.”


My blistering feet suddenly feel chilled. I look down. The ground is butter pecan ice cream. The suns fall from the sky. They land as candy sprinkles. A dark river appears on the horizon and begins to flow toward us.


“That’s unusual for this vicinity,” Morzant says. “Spontaneous hot fudge rivers are more common in the southern hemisphere.”


He pulls up a leafless silver tree. It’s a big spoon. He quickly scoops ice cream and piles it into a heaping mound. Morzant and I climb to the top of the mound just as the hot fudge river reaches us. The river splits as it flows around the mound and then comes together again on the other side. The mound begins to melt.


“I’m sorry your visit to my planet has proven so perilous,” Morzant says. “How disappointing that we won’t be able to visit the Hall of Math.”


Just as we’re about to sink into the hot fudge, a canoe carved out of a giant banana drifts by. Bigfoot is in the canoe paddling through the hot fudge with one of the leafless silver tree spoons.


“Jump in!” he yells to us.


We do. Bigfoot paddles the banana canoe to shore where all my friends and three puppies greet us.


“Dessert time!” Bigfoot says.


Morzant and I follow the group to a little shop called “Not a Mirage.” There’s a sign in front promising every flavor imaginable. A foghorn sounds when Bigfoot pushes open the door.


Penny gets in line first and the duck behind the counter takes her order.


“I’ll have two scoops of mystery,” she says.


Beverly’s turn is next.


“A small dish of sad, please,” she says.


After Bigfoot, Norman, Morzant, and the puppies order their dessert, the duck whips up a little dessert for himself.



BIGFOOT’s dessert:


ADDIE ON THE INSIDE by James Howe

[YOUNG ADULT]

Atheneum-Simon & Schuster

July 26, 2011


PUTTING MAKEUP ON THE FAT BOY by Bil Wright

[YOUNG ADULT]

Simon & Schuster

July 26, 2011




MORZANT’s dessert:


AMERICAPEDIA: TAKING THE DUMB OUT OF FREEDOM

by Andisheh Nouraee, Daniel Ehrenhaft, and

Jodi Lynn Anderson

[YOUNG ADULT—NON-FICTION]

Walker

July 19, 2011


SCARY SCIENCE: 24 CREEPY EXPERIMENTS

by Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone,

illustrated by Ashley Spires

[MIDDLE GRADE—NON-FICTION]

Scholastic

August 1, 2011


WAGONS HO! by George Hallowell and Joan Holub,

illustrated by Lynne Avril

[PICTURE BOOK]

Albert Whitman

August 1, 2011




PENNY’s dessert:


THE GIRL IS MURDER by Kathryn Miller Haines

[YOUNG ADULT]

Roaring Brook

July 19, 2011


RETURN TO DAEMON HALL: EVIL ROOTS

by Andrew Nance,

with illustrations by Coleman Polhemus

[YOUNG ADULT—SEQUEL TO DAEMON HALL]

Henry Holt

July 19, 2011


VANISHED by Sheela Chari

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Hyperion-Disney

July 26, 2011


DARK SOULS: A NOVEL by Paula Morris

[YOUNG ADULT]

Point-Scholastic

August 1, 2011


MISFIT by Jon Skovron

[YOUNG ADULT]

Amulet-Abrams

August 1, 2011


THE POISONED HOUSE by Michael Ford

[YOUNG ADULT]

Albert Whitman

August 1, 2011




The DUCK’s dessert:


MAGICAL MISCHIEF by Anna Dale

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Bloomsbury USA

July 19, 2011


THE SECRET SPIRAL by Gillian Neimark

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Egmont USA

July 26, 2011


THE WIZARD OF DARK STREET

by Shawn Thomas Odyssey

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Egmont USA

July 26, 2011


BAD ISLAND by Doug Tennapel

[YOUNG ADULT—GRAPHIC NOVEL]

Graphix-Scholastic

August 1, 2011


PETER NIMBLE AND HIS FANTASTIC EYES

by Jonathan Auxier

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Amulet-Abrams

August 1, 2011




NORMAN’s dessert:


INTO THE TRAP by Craig Moodie

[YOUNG ADULT]

Roaring Brook

July 19, 2011


JANITORS by Tyler Whitesides,

with illustrations by Brandon Dorman

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Shadow Mountain

July 20, 2011


THE TROUBLE WITH SQUIDS by Julie Gardner Berry,

with illustrations by Sally Faye Gardner

[MIDDLE GRADE—FOURTH IN THE SPLURCH

ACADEMY SERIES]

Grosset & Dunlap-Penguin

July 21, 2011


TROUBLEMAKER by Andrew Clements,

with illustrations by Mark Elliott

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Atheneum-Simon & Schuster

July 26, 2011


COLLISION COURSE by GORDON KORMAN

[MIDDLE GRADE—SECOND IN THE TITANIC TRILOGY]

Scholastic

August 1, 2011




BEVERLY’s dessert:


LUNCH-BOX DREAM by Tony Abbott

[YOUNG ADULT]

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

July 19, 2011


PEARL by Jo Knowles

[YOUNG ADULT]

Henry Holt

July 19, 2011


SILHOUETTED BY THE BLUE by Traci L. Jones

[YOUNG ADULT]

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

July 19, 2011


THE BABYSITTER MURDERS by Janet Ruth Young

[YOUNG ADULT]

Atheneum-Simon & Schuster

July 26, 2011


AND THEN THINGS FALL APART by Arlaina Tibensky

[YOUNG ADULT]

Simon Pulse-Simon & Schuster

July 26, 2011




OLIVER’s dessert:


BONE DOG by Eric Rohmann

[PICTURE BOOK]

Roaring Brook

July 19, 2011


CROCODILE’S TEARS by Alex Beard

[PICTURE BOOK]

Abrams

August 1, 2011


PERFECT SNOW by Barbara Reid

[PICTURE BOOK]

Albert Whitman

August 1, 2011




LENNY’s dessert:


KING HUGO’S HUGE EGO by Chris Van Dusen

[PICTURE BOOK]

Candlewick

July 26, 2011


DEAR HOT DOG by Mordicai Gerstein

[PICTURE BOOK]

Abrams

August 1, 2011




VIOLET’s dessert:


FROG AND FRIENDS by Eve Bunting,

illustrated by Josée Masse

[EARLY READER]

Sleeping Bear Press-Gale

July 22, 2011


BAILEY by Harry Bliss

[PICTURE BOOK]

Scholastic

August 1, 2011



* The dream entries from Briar’s journal contain premonitions of books that will be published in the future. Briar’s dream self foresees the books’ summaries and knows which will likely appeal to each of her friends. Briar always wakes up before she can see whether her friends will enjoy the books.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

HUCK RUNS AMUCK! (Picture Book)

by Sean Taylor, illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds

Dial-Penguin, 2011


A Book Review by

Violet the Telekinetic Puppy


I’m Violet and I’m going to tell you about a funny picture book called HUCK RUNS AMUCK. HUCK RUNS AMUCK is about a goat named Huck who runs amuck. Amuck is a funny word and Huck is a funny goat and funny things happen when Huck runs amuck and that’s why HUCK RUNS AMUCK is a funny picture book.


Huck is a special type of goat and that type of goat is a mountain goat. That means Huck is good at climbing. It’s good that Huck is good at climbing because the other thing about Huck is that his favorite food is flowers and the flowers Huck wants to eat are all in high-up places. Huck is a good climber but when he sees flowers he gets excited and he goes amuck and then he isn’t a careful climber.


Huck does a lot of climbing in this book but he doesn’t do a lot of eating because every time he gets close to flowers something happens to keep him from eating the flowers. One time he gets close enough to eat some flowers when he climbs way up a tall cliff that has flowers on top of it. But Huck doesn’t get to eat those flowers because he falls off the tall cliff and that might sound sad but it is really funny because the picture of him falling off the tall cliff is so funny that you won’t be sad. And Huck doesn’t get sad either because right away he sees some more flowers to try to eat and that is another funny part because the flowers he sees aren’t the kind of flowers that grow in the ground they are the kind that are just pictures on underwear. Huck climbs a clothesline to get to the flowers that are really just pictures on underwear but a funny thing happens to keep him from eating the underwear flowers. I won’t tell you what the funny thing is because you will want to find out for yourself.


There are other funny parts where Huck gets close to flowers but doesn’t get to eat them. But there is one time he does get close to flowers and he could eat them if he wants and those are the flowers on a lady’s hat and the hat is on top of a church tower and Huck climbs the tower to get to the hat. But do you know what? Huck doesn’t eat the hat flowers because everybody in town thinks Huck is being a nice mountain goat and that he is climbing the church tower to get the lady’s hat for her. Even though he really wants to eat the hat flowers he doesn’t because he doesn’t want everybody to be mad at him and also because even though he is a hungry mountain goat he is also a nice mountain goat and so he doesn’t eat the hat flowers. The lady is happy and wants to give Huck a reward and you probably think you know what his reward is but if your guess is flowers you are only sort of right. If you think I’m going to tell you if Huck gets to eat flowers at the end of this book you are not even a little bit right.


The pictures in this book are fun to look at and I like the colors and I like the funny way Huck’s eyes look hungry and googly when he sees flowers. I also like the little bird that follows Huck around and I didn’t notice the little bird the first time I read the book but I liked this book so much that I read it a second time and that’s when I noticed the little bird. I don’t know why the little bird follows Huck around but I think maybe Huck ate his nest. That might sound strange but at the beginning of the book it says that goats can eat birds’ nests so maybe Huck ate the little bird’s nest. Except maybe Huck didn’t eat the little bird’s nest because the little bird doesn’t look mad. Probably the little bird is following Huck around because it is fun to watch Huck run amuck.


Here is a list of who will like this book:


Flowertarians.


Little birds.


Readers named Billy.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Briar’s Journal (July 1 to July 12, 2011)

Dream Entry*
October 7, 2003

My friends are altogether in the clearing. Norman and some ants are playing tag. Morzant is flying a saucer-shaped kite. Penny tries to help Beverly spread a checkered blanket on the ground, but three beagle puppies dart underneath it and tug at its corners. Bigfoot sprays pest repellent from a can as flying squirrels swarm around him.


A word bubble appears over one of the beagle puppies. Inside are the words: Is it time yet?


“It’s time,” Bigfoot says.


Bigfoot tells me to turn off the lights. It’s daytime and we’re outside, but my dream self knows to tap the caterpillar resting on a nearby tree branch. Suddenly it’s nighttime. Crickets chirp. Owls hoot. Frogs recite When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.


Bigfoot throws a water balloon into the air. A high-pitched whistle echoes around us.


“Pull!” he shouts.


Norman draws an invisible squirt gun from an invisible holster. He fires an invisible walnut at the balloon. The balloon explodes with a crick-crack-crackety-crick-crack. I wait for water to splash me, but instead colorful, glow-in-the-dark streamers twirl to the ground, sizzling and fizzling as they fall.


“Oooooo,” Beverly says.


“Ahhhhh,” Penny says.


Bigfoot throws balloon after balloon. Norman shoots invisible walnut after invisible walnut. Spectacular displays light up the night sky.


Once Norman misses his target. Another word bubble appears over the beagle puppy: Rats. A dud.


The other two beagle puppies begin to chant, “Grand finale! Grand finale! Grand finale!”


Bigfoot loads a waterbed into a catapult and launches it.


“Rub-a-dub-dub!” he shouts.


This time Norman shoots an invisible watermelon out of an invisible canon. The tub explodes. There’s a tremendous BOOM! that shakes the flying squirrels out of the trees. Luminous books fall from the sky like candy from a piñata. My friends stash the books into picnic baskets.



In BIGFOOT’s picnic basket:

THE RITES AND WRONGS OF JANICE WILLS

by Joanna Pearson

[YOUNG ADULT]

Arthur A. Levine-Scholastic

July 1, 2011


NERD GIRLS: THE RISE OF THE DORKASAURUS

by Alan Lawrence Sitomer

[YOUNG ADULT]

Hyperion-Disney

July 5, 2011


BESTEST. RAMADAN. EVER. by Medeia Sharif

[YOUNG ADULT]

Flux-Llewellyn

July 8, 2011


THE SUMMER I LEARNED TO FLY by Dana Reinhardt

[YOUNG ADULT]

Wendy Lamb-Random House

July 12, 2011




In MORZANT’s picnic basket:

THE ELEPHANT SCIENTIST (SCIENTISTS IN THE FIELD SERIES) by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell

[MIDDLE GRADE—NON-FICTION]

Houghton Mifflin

July 11, 2011


THE BRAVEST WOMAN IN AMERICA by Marissa Moss,

illustrated by Andrea U’Ren

[PICTURE BOOK—NON-FICTION]

Tricycle Press-Random House

July 12, 2011


DOUBLE PLAY: MONKEYING AROUND WITH ADDITION

by Betsy Franco, illustrated by Doug Cushman

[PICTURE BOOK]

Tricycle Press-Random House

July 12, 2011


MONSTER HUNT: EXPLORING MYSTERIOUS CREATURES WITH JIM ARNOSKY by Jim Arnosky

[PICTURE BOOK—NON-FICITON]

Hyperion-Disney

July 12, 2011




In PENNY’s picnic basket:

A SCARY SCENE IN A SCARY MOVIE by Matt Blackstone

[YOUNG ADULT]

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

July 5, 2011


WHITE CROW by Marcus Sedgwick

[YOUNG ADULT]

Roaring Brook

July 5, 2011


TEXAS GOTHIC by Rosemary Clement-Moore

[YOUNG ADULT]

Delacorte-Random House

July 12, 2011




In NORMAN’s picnic basket:

SIDEKICKS by Dan Santat

[MIDDLE GRADE—GRAPHIC NOVEL]

Arthur A. Levine-Scholastic

July 1, 2011


THE SPAGHETTI DETECTIVES by Andreas Steinhofel

[MIDDLE GRADE]

The Chicken House-Scholastic

July 1, 2011


THE ULTIMATE TOP SECRET GUIDE TO TAKING OVER THE WORLD by Kenn Nesbitt, illustrated by Ethan Long

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Soucebooks Jabberwocky-Sourcebooks

July 1, 2011


CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING

by Tommy Greenwald, with illustrations by J.P. Coovert

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Roaring Brook

July 5, 2011


EMMY AND THE RATS IN THE BELFRY by Lynne Jonell,

with illustrations by Jonathan Bean

[MIDDLE GRADE—THIRD IN THE SERIES]

Henry Holt

July 5, 2011




In BEVERLY’s picnic basket:

FALLING FOR HAMLET by Michelle Ray

[YOUNG ADULT]

Little, Brown-Hachette

July 5, 2011


DANCING HOME by Alma Flor Ada and

Gabriel M. Zubizarreta

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Atheneum-Simon & Schuster

July 12, 2011


SYLVIA & AKI by Winifred Conkling

[MIDDLE GRADE]

Tricycle Press-Random House

July 12, 2011




In OLIVER’s picnic basket:

SEVEN LITTLE MICE GO TO SCHOOL by Kazuo Iwamura

[PICTURE BOOK]

NorthSouth

July 1, 2011


MELVIN AND THE BOY by Lauren Castillo

[PICTURE BOOK]

Henry Holt

July 5, 2011


GOOD NIGHT, WORLD by Willa Perlman,

illustrated by Carolyn Fisher

[PICTURE BOOK]

Beach Lane-Simon & Schuster

July 12, 2011


SAY WHAT? by Angela DiTerlizzi, illustrated by Joey Chou

[PICTURE BOOK]

Beach Lane-Simon & Schuster

July 12, 2011




In LENNY’s picnic basket:

TEN RULES YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST NOT BREAK IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE THE SCHOOL BUS by John Grandits,

illustrated by Michael Allen Austin

[PICTURE BOOK]

Clarion-Houghton Mifflin

July 4, 2011


WIENER WOLF by Jeff Crosby

[PICTURE BOOK]

Hyperion-Disney

July 5, 2011


HORNBOOKS AND INKWELLS by Verla Kay,

illustrated by S.D. Schindler

[PICTURE BOOK]

Putnam-Penguin

July 7, 2011


A PLACE TO CALL HOME by Alexis Deacon,

illustrated by Viviane Schwarz

[PICTURE BOOK]

Candlewick

July 12, 2011




In VIOLET’s picnic basket:

TOO MANY FROGS! by Ann Hassett,

illustrated by John Hassett

[PICTURE BOOKS]

Houghton Mifflin

July 11, 2011



* The dream entries from Briar’s journal contain premonitions of books that will be published in the future. Briar’s dream self foresees the books’ summaries and knows which will likely appeal to each of her friends. Briar always wakes up before she can see whether her friends will enjoy the books.